Code: 09386419

Race Against the Stasi

Name: Race Against the Stasi
Brand: Aurum Press
SKU: 09386419
Price: 47.34 PLN
Availability: InStock

by Herbie Sykes

Language: English
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Aurum Press, 2016
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Book synopsis

Cycling Book of the Year - Cross British Sports Book Awards When the 'Iron Curtain' descended across Europe, Dieter Wiedemann was a hero of East German sport. A podium finisher in The Peace Race, the Eastern Bloc equivalent of the Tour de France, he was a pin-up for the supremacy of socialism over the 'fascist' West. Unbeknownst to the authorities, however, he had fallen in love with Sylvia Hermann, a girl from the other side of the wall. Socialist doctrine had it that the two of them were 'class enemies', and as a famous athlete Dieter's every move was pored over by the Stasi. Only he abhorred their ideology, and in Sylvia saw his only chance of freedom. Now, playing a deadly game of cat and mouse, he plotted his escape. In 1964 he was delegated, once and once only, to West Germany. Here he was to ride a qualification race for the Tokyo Olympics, but instead committed the most treacherous of all the crimes against socialism. Dieter Wiedemann, sporting icon and Soviet pawn, defected to the other side. Whilst Wiedemann fulfilled his lifetime ambition of racing in the Tour de France, his defection caused a huge scandal. The Stasi sought to 'repatriate' him, with horrific consequences both for him and the family he left behind. Fifty years on, and twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dieter Wiedemann decided it was time to tell his story. Through his testimony and that of others involved, and through the Stasi file, which has stalked him for half a century, Herbie Sykes uncovers an astonishing tale. It is one of love and betrayal, of the madness at the heart of the cold war, and of the greatest bike race in history.

Book details

Book category Books in English Humanities History History: earliest times to present day

47.34 zł

Full title: Race Against the Stasi
Subtitle: The Incredible Story of Dieter Wiedemann, the Iron Curtain and the Greatest Cycling Race on Earth
Author: Herbie Sykes
Language: English
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 416
EAN: 9781781315361
ISBN: 1781315361
ID: 09386419
Publisher: Aurum Press
Weight: 308 g
Dimensions: 198 × 129 × 29 mm
Date of publishing: 14. January 2016